Single Dorset collection service moves a step closer

Plans for a single standardised Dorset waste and recycling collection service have moved a step nearer after the Dorset Waste Partnership, which manages waste on behalf of five of the countys councils, agreed the details of proposed service.

Each of the councils which are members of the Dorset Waste Partnership will now meet separately between now and January 2012 to decide whether to opt into the service, which is expected to save the local authorities involved a combined 2 million a year.

The Dorset Waste Partnership (DWP) was established in April 2011 (see letsrecycle.com story) and currently has seven member councils Dorset county, Christchurch borough, East Dorset district, North Dorset district, Purbeck district, West Dorset district and Weymouth & Portland borough.

Of these, it directly runs in-house waste and recycling collections for Christchurch, East Dorset, and North Dorset, while it manages Purbecks collection contract with SITA UK. It also manages waste disposal for Dorset county council.

West Dorset and Weymouth & Portland are set to bring their services under the auspices of the DWP in April 2013, while Purbecks service will be run the by DWP when its arrangement with SITA ends in autumn 2013.

Due to this, and other logistical issues, the introduction of a single standardised collection service would be phased, beginning in the east of the county in June 2012 and finishing in the summer of 2014.

Last week (October 6), the DWP joint committee, which includes two councillors from each of the seven councils, agreed the collection approach that would be introduced in those areas that opt into the service.

This involves:

• A seven-litre food waste kitchen caddy
• A lockable food waste container to be kept outside collected weekly
• A 140-litre wheeled bin for refuse collected fortnightly
• A 240-litre wheeled bin for recycling collected fortnightly
• Glass will be collected separately in a 55 litre recycling box collected fortnightly with the 240-litre wheeled bin for recycling
• An optional chargeable garden waste service

Speaking to letsrecycle.com yesterday (October 12) about how big a change this would represent for the councils involved, Steve Burdis, director of the DWP, said: Its a change for every authority but there are degrees of change.

Mr Burdis noted that, with 12 collection systems in place across the six district councils affected in one case, there are three different collection systems used in one town the impact would vary.

The key change will be a move from kerbside sort to tri-stream. Glass will be kept separate because its the material that can most contaminate other materials, he said. We believe we can maintain quality standards without glass in there and can also keep glass in a way it can be separated for sale by colour.

Savings

In terms of the savings on offer, Mr Burdis said that, while there was no exact breakdown for how 2 million would be achieved yet, money would be saved by diverting material from landfill, while the DWP would also be able to make efficiencies and economies of scale when buying new collection vehicles.

He acknowledged that the current range of collection systems was not the most effective and efficient way to run a service. What we can do is deliver a more uniform service, he added.

Mr Burdis also highlighted the potential for increasing income from recyclables. Currently material collected by the DWP is sorted and marketed by Poole-based W&S Recycling under a contract running until 2013, with the potential to be extended until 2016.

According to Mr Burdis, their operation involves a fairly small MRF with minimal sorting, but he said that MRF infrastructure was one of the issues to be looked at as part of the service overhaul.

As well as the cash savings, the single collection service is also expected to help the DWP achieve at least a 60% household waste recycling rate by 2015/16, although Mr Burdis suggested this could be much nearer 70%.

Phases

Explaining why a phased introduction was on the cards, Mr Burdis said that deciding to wait for Purbeck to finish its contract with SITA was a factor, explaining that it wouldnt make any sense for Purbeck for us to work with a contractor thats almost finished.

But, he also noted there would be logistical difficulties if the service were to be introduced for all 200,000 properties across the six district council members of the DWP at once as a big bang implementation.

And, he said there was also a need to build a new transfer and bulking station in the West of the county a project due to come on line in April 2014.

Government funding

Commenting on the proposals, the chair of the DWP joint committee, councillor Hilary Cox, said: The proposed new Dorset scheme will improve the service for all residents; it is flexible, easily adaptable for all households and will cope with any future changes imposed on us by legislation.

Cllr Cox referred to the potential for the DWP to seek government funding support for the project, but highlighted a lack of clarity over exactly what the coalition was looking to back. Due to the lack of clarity about exactly what initiatives and collections the Government is prepared to encourage, we will seek funding from the Government, if at all possible, to improve the service and cut the costs, she said.

Last month, communities secretary Eric Pickles unveiled a 250 million fund to encourage councils to return to or retain weekly waste collections (see letsrecycle.com story), but the government is yet to confirm exactly what the money will be available to support.

Mr Burdis said the DWPs hope was that it could bid for support for the weekly food waste collection aspect of the proposed new service. He suggested funding support could also be sought for the separate glass collection proposed as part of the new offering in particular if the DWP opted to collect glass in an insert placed in the top of the wheeled bin used to collect dry recycling a more expensive option.

Council meetings

The seven member councils of the DWP will now meet between October 2011 and January 2012 to consider whether to opt into the service. The first to meet will be Christchurch borough council, whose community services committee will discuss the plans on October 19.